Chuck, I guy e-mailed me from the Losmandy yahoo group the other day and he had trouble using it and sent it back. I'm not considering that option anymore. I'm now looking into a guidescope on a dual scope platform right now. Thanks for the feedback. Debbie

From: Chuck Hards <chuckhards@yahoo.com> Date: 2005/01/20 Thu AM 11:30:23 MST To: utah-astronomy@mailman.xmission.com Subject: [Utah-astronomy] Re: Lumicon Easy-Guider

Debbie, I've had the 2" model for decades, used with my Pentax 35mm SLR.

The pick-off prism is tiny, and is at the very edge of the field, best positioned at the top or bottom of a 35mm frame, not much room on the sides and you may get a shadow if positioned there. Also in fast systems the stars are usually comatic out at the very edge of the field and it can be difficult to guide on a tiny Vee shape instead of a point. I used the Lumicon coma-corrector whenever I used the Easy-Guider, but my autoguider (non-digital type) still had big problems with the non-round edge-of-field stars. By the time you add a 2x or 3x Barlow to the pick-off path, the guide star can be really, really dim. I don't use one anymore unless I have at least ten or twelve inches of aperture, and use a separate guide scope most of the time now. But I'm saving it for that "big scope" in my backyard observatory when I retire! ;)

Any help?

Debbie wrote:

...

Does anybody have any experience with the Lumicon Easy Guiders? It seems like an elegant way to do guiding without worrying about rings, guidescopes, or flexure from guidescopes. Plus, I could add an autoguider later on.

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